Owners Are Wrong, But Don't Get It

April 27, 2011

Denver Post

Federal judge Susan Richard Nelson essentially said to the NFL owners in her ringing 89-page ruling: Cut your losses, fellas. You’re in the wrong. Understand the extraordinary privilege you have enjoyed all these years, and don’t push it. Stow your hubris, and end the labor dispute, or risk losing everything.

The owners don’t get it, and haven’t from the beginning. But they better get it fast, or the entire structure of the league may come down around their ears. On Tuesday, it suddenly became clear what a doomsday scenario they put into play when they picked a financial fight with their players, and locked them out. It was a profound mistake, committed out of arrogance. While they were calculating revenue, studying profit-loss statements and betting on how many unplayed games it would take the players to fold, they should have taken a crucial fact into...